One of the many benefits to shopping at 3Gstore.com is the unrivaled technical support our tech team offers. The mobile broadband experts at 3Gstore have helped countless customers solve a wide variety of issues, and in our Tech Corner series we'll be featuring interesting problems our customers have called us for help with, the solutions our team provided, and some simple advice for you to avoid the same problem!

Changing the WiMAX Realm on Cradlepoint Routers for 4G Modems

The Problem: We received a call from a customer trying to use a CLEAR 4G WiMAX modem with his Cradlepoint MBR1000 router. The customer had upgraded the firmware and installed the necessary WiMAX modem driver for the router, but the router still would not connect to the CLEAR network. The customer had confirmed that the modem was working perfectly in his computer with CLEAR's connection manager, and the router was functioning properly when used with other modems, but they were not "playing nice" together.

3Gstore's Solution: When using a 4G-capable Cradlepoint router, you have to install a WiMAX modem driver in order to use a 4G modem. HOWEVER, that is not the last step you need to take! There is a setting within the router for the specific "WiMAX Realm" (the provider for your WiMAX service), and this setting always defaults to Sprint. If you are using a WiMAX modem from a different carrier (CLEAR, Time Warner, etc) you need to change that setting first before the modem will work. We were quickly able to determine that this customer had missed this step. Upon selecting the appropriate realm (see instructions below), he was able to get connected.

3. Click on the "Modem" tab, then select the "Settings" link on the left.

4. At the bottom of this page there is a section called "Modem Specific Settings". In the bottom of this section there is a field for "WiMAX Realm Select". If you are using Sprint, Clear or Xohm you can set this easily by using the dropdown menu on the right and selecting your carrier (see picture below). If your carrier is not listed in the dropdown menu you will need to type it into the blank manually.

5. Once your realm has been selected, scroll up to the top of the page and click "Save Settings". Once the settings have been successfully saved, reboot the router. Once the router re-boots, you'll be able to connect!

Our Advice: Before using a WiMAX modem with a Cradlepoint router, in addition to updating the firmware and installing the modem driver, make sure the realm is selected correctly (see instructions above). If you're ordering your router from 3Gstore, we can do all of this for you before shipping your router for a $15 fee so that you don't have to worry about this when you get your router!